Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended on Friday for ordering state probate judges not to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, despite contrary rulings by a federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed six charges against Moore for disregarding federal court rulings on same-sex marriage, noting that he had “flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority” in ordering the state’s probate judges to refuse applications for marriage licenses by same-sex couples.

The charges state that Moore “knowingly ordered” the state’s probate judges “to commit violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics” and “abandoned his role as a neutral and detached chief administrator of the judicial system.”

In a statement Moore said the Judicial Inquiry Commission “had no authority” over administrative orders related to probate judges, and promised to fight the suspension:

The JIC has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite, and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations which support their agenda… We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail.

Speaking for many reasonable people both inside and outside of Alabama, Human Rights Campaign Alabama State Manager Eva Walton Kendrick said:

Roy Moore is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama. He has repeatedly used his authority to discriminate against LGBT people and their families, and to defy federal marriage equality rulings. Moore’s suspension is welcome news, and we expect the Ethics Commission will permanently throw him out of office after reviewing his pattern of intentionally flouting the laws he vowed to uphold.

Moore now faces a hearing before the state’s Court of the Judiciary. Among possible outcomes at such a hearing would be his removal from office.

Moore has a history of breaking the law to satisfy his radical Christian extremism. In 2003, as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building despite orders to do so from a federal judge. On November 13, 2003, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary unanimously removed Moore from his post as Chief Justice.

Indeed, Moore has a reputation as a Christian extremist with little respect for the federal government or the U.S. Constitution, and is quoted as once saying:

the Supreme Court cannot supersede God, simply because the United States is a Christian nation.

And in an appalling display of constitutional ignorance and religious bigotry, Moore once declared that the First Amendment only applied to Christians.

Bottom line: Moore has no place on the bench. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no respect for the law, and no respect for the U.S. Constitution.